Contents

Plot[edit]

On May 21, 1973, six people conduct The Charles Experiment, a parapsychological experiment, in which they stare at a drawing of a deceased man, Charles Reamer, hoping to summon his spirit. Years later, four college students, Patrick (Tom Felton), Lydia (Julianna Guill), Greg (Luke Pasqualino), and Ben (Sebastian Stan) attempt to recreate the Charles Experiment on a larger scale by using modern technology. During the experiment, something attacks the students and pulls Lydia into the wall.

Some time later, Ben and his girlfriend Kelly (Ashley Greene) are living together. One evening, they discover strange burn marks on their counters. Kelly finds both doors wide open, even though they had locked them. They decide to change the locks and install surveillance cameras. Later, Kelly finds a large amount of mold and spores on the laundry room floor while Ben finds even more in a crawlspace. Ben gets 36 "urgent" emails from Patrick that first inform him of a new attempt at the Charles Experiment, followed by a warning that "containment failed" and finally "you are in danger".

After witnessing the apparition, the couple go to a hotel, but they're attacked there as well. As they flee, they receive a call from Patrick and meet him. Patrick explains that the initial experiment enabled a malevolent spirit entity to enter their world, but that he has built a room surrounded by a negative current that he believes protects him from the spirit. They return to Kelly and Ben's house to try a new experiment to contain the entity. During the experiment, the house begins to shake and break apart, then abruptly stops. While Kelly and Ben are outside, Patrick is pulled into the darkness and vanishes. Unable to find Patrick, they leave to get to the safety chamber in Patrick's house.

Inside the room, we hear Patrick's personal log being played back, including information about the members of the original experiment. Of the original six, two died, one committed suicide and the other three disappeared. After entering the safety chamber cage, Ben disappears. Kelly exits the chamber and finds Ben's contorted corpse. Patrick's narration explains that the entity gets stronger with each person it claims, and that it will wear its victims down until they're too weak to resist.

With no escape, Kelly wanders around, and enters an empty Costco. She walks to the camping section, enters a tent and waits. Having given up resisting, a number of hands appear from behind and slowly grab hold of her as the movie cuts to black.

Release[edit]

Home media[edit]

Reception[edit]

Critical response[edit]

The Apparition was heavily panned by critics, and has an overall approval rating of 3% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 51 reviews, with an average rating of 2.2/10. The consensus says, "The Apparition fails to offer anything original, isn't particularly scary, and offers so little in the way of dramatic momentum that it's more likely to put you to sleep than thrill you."[17] On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 18/100, indicating "Overwhelming dislike".[18] Much of the film's criticisms regard its lack of originality and uncanny similarities to other horror films which include Ju-on: The Grudge, Ring, Paranormal Activity, and Pulse. Brian Orndof from Blu-ray.com said, "The trailer for 'The Apparition' contained more story than the picture it was promoting. In fact, I think the trailer for 'The Apparition' is actually more of a movie than 'The Apparition.'" Mark Dujsik agreed, saying, "It's so terrible that there might actually be more tension in the numbing first act of monotonous chores than there is in anything that follows."[19]IndieWire called the film a "hauntingly inept chiller", feeling that the film "makes no attempts to transcend or even enliven its genre".[20] RedEye Chicago called the film "hilariously non-scary".[21]

Box office[edit]

The Apparition was a significant box office bomb. The film only came in at #12 on its opening weekend at the box office, with a gross of $2.84 million.[2] According to Box Office Mojo, "With the unusually-low theater count and a practically non-existent marketing effort, it's clear Warner Bros. was trying to bury this movie, and they appear to have succeeded."[22] As of November 2012, it grossed $4.9 million domestically and $9.6 million worldwide.[2] The film still had international release dates throughout December 2012;[23] however, it appears not to have recouped its budget.